How did Obama allow Russia to set up a hacking operation powerful enough to threaten democracy in France, Holland, Germany, install puppet governments in Hungary, Moldava and Bulgaria and determine the outcome of the presidential election in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Ohio? And why are-- usually investigation-happy-- congressional Republican leaders Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan determined to prevent thorough look into this?Over the weekend Lindsey Graham (R-SC) unleashed a twitter storm obliquely warning of Russian intentions:And yesterday, he joined with Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Armed Services Committee, John McCain and Jack Reed, to issue a joint statement on the definitive Intelligence agencies assertions that Russia hacked the U.S. elections on behalf of Trump, implying that there is much more than the public has been told about Russian inteference with the election process, interference-- "grave threats... to our national security"-- being covered up by McConnell and Ryan. And by FBI Director James Comey.Sunday McCain, who referred to Putin as a "thug" and a "killer," said that he will add a new subcommittee to the Senate's Armed Services Committee, dedicating to investigateing Russian hacks and chaired by Lindsey Graham. Ben Cardin, the Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was on State of the Union and told Jake Tapper that "We need to find out exactly what has happened. What we do know is that Russia hacked us... What we need to do is have that type of investigation to find out what we should do about Russia... Russia," he repeated 3 times, "is not our friend." He referred to Putin's "corrupt regime" and said that "Whether they were trying to elect Donald Trump... that's something we need to take a look at. We need to find out and then take action."Meanwhile, Alex Younger, the head of Britain's MI6-- their version of the CIA-- at a first-of-its-kind (for him) press conference at MI6 headquarters, told the press that "the connectivity that is at the heart of globalisation can be exploited by states with hostile intent to further their aims deniably. They do this through means as varied as cyber-attacks, propaganda or subversion of democratic process. The risks at stake are profound and represent a fundamental threat to our sovereignty; they should be a concern to all those who share democratic values."
Younger’s comments come after America has accused Vladimir Putin of trying to disrupt its presidential election by hacking political organisations and amid fears Russian spies will also try to undermine upcoming elections in Germany and France....Younger said the threat was posed by states “whose very survival owes to the strength of their security capabilities.”British spies trying to defeat the threat faced complex and risky work “often with the full weight of the state trying to root us out,” he said.
By the way, Trump did not have a massive landslide victory. He lost the popular vote by the biggest number of any president in the modern era-- 65,746,544 (48.2%) for Clinton to just 62,904,682 (46.2%) for himself. 231,556,622 Americans were eligible to vote and 62,904,682 voted for Trump, which is just 28%. That means that 72% of eligible voters chose to not vote for him. That's a massive landslide. And his electoral college win (if they even all vote for him)-- 306 (56.9%) to 232 (43.1%)-- is certainly not a landslide. It was the 46th "biggest" electoral college win out of 58 elections. Compare Trump's win with how presidents did before Russia was permitted to hack elections for their puppet candidate:
